Most Amazing Swimming Pools in the World: 10 Iconic Dips

The most amazing swimming pools in the world float above city skylines, hang over jungle gorges and stretch for a kilometre beside the sea.

A hotel pool used to be a simple rectangle of blue water beside the bar. Over the last few decades, architects and resort owners have turned the pool into the main attraction, building infinity edges on skyscrapers, carving pools into volcanic cliffs and even filling an old airship hangar with a tropical sea. For many travellers, the pool is now the reason they book a trip.

This guide looks at ten pools that stand out for their engineering, their setting or their sheer scale. For each one you will find a Quick Facts table, a short history, the features that make it special, and a few interesting facts, checked against official resort information, news reports and encyclopaedic references.

How We Chose These Pools

This is an editorial list, not a ranking by size or price. We looked for pools that offer something you cannot find in an ordinary hotel: a view, a structure or an experience that makes them famous in their own right. Some are open only to hotel guests or residents, while others welcome day visitors, so we note access where it matters.

The list covers ten countries on five continents. It includes a rooftop pool nearly 200 metres above Singapore, a thermal bath from the Art Nouveau era, a pool next to an African watering hole and one of the largest artificial lagoons ever built. Prices, opening hours and access rules change often, so check with each venue before you plan a visit.

Most Amazing Swimming Pools at a Glance

1. Marina Bay Sands SkyPark Infinity Pool

Origins and History

Marina Bay Sands was built as an integrated resort on reclaimed land facing Marina Bay, and at its opening in 2010 it was described as the most expensive standalone casino property in the world. Its three 55-storey hotel towers are joined at the top by the Sands SkyPark, a 1.2-hectare platform that also forms one of the longest public cantilevers in the world.

The SkyPark opened to the public on 24 June 2010, the second day of the resort's official opening celebrations. The infinity pool on top quickly became one of the most photographed images of modern Singapore.

Key Features

• An infinity edge of about 146 metres, often described as the longest elevated pool of its kind
• Views across Marina Bay, the city skyline and the Singapore Strait
• Pools built from around 191,000 kilograms of stainless steel, holding roughly 1,425 cubic metres of water
• Four movement joints under the pools, so they can cope with the natural sway of the towers

Significance

Building a pool on top of three separate towers is a serious engineering problem. The towers move in the wind and settle over time, so engineers installed adjustable jack legs at more than 500 points beneath the pool system to keep the infinity edge level. The result shows how far rooftop design has come, and it set a benchmark that many newer skyscraper pools try to match.

In Popular Culture

The towers and the SkyPark have appeared in several editions of The Amazing Race, and the SkyPark was the finish line of the first season of the British show Race Across the World. A Singapore race track in Mario Kart Tour even sends drivers through a version of the rooftop pool.

Interesting Facts

• The SkyPark is longer than the Eiffel Tower is tall
• Its observation deck is open to paying visitors, but the pool itself is reserved for hotel guests
• A new fourth tower with its own SkyPark is under construction, with completion planned around 2031

2. Perivolas

Origins and History

Perivolas began as a family project rather than a hotel plan. Manos Psychas, a sea captain born in Odessa whose family came from Santorini, bought a stretch of cliff in the Perivolas area of Oia with his wife Nadia in 1969. The land held old cave houses, stables and wine cellars that had once belonged to fishermen and farmers.

The couple restored the caves with local craftsmen and local stone, first as homes for friends. The hotel opened with just four small rooms in 1983, and it has since grown to around 20 individual houses and suites, still run by the Psychas family.

Key Features

• An infinity pool that appears to merge with the Aegean Sea below the cliff
• Whitewashed cave houses arranged like an amphitheatre around the terrace
• Views across the flooded caldera of the Santorini volcano
• A restaurant in a cave that was once used as a wine cellar

Significance

Perivolas helped create the image that many people now picture when they think of a Greek island holiday: white walls, deep blue water and a pool that seems to spill into the sea. Travel writers often describe it as the original that dozens of later cliffside hotels on Santorini have copied.

Interesting Facts

• The family also created a hideaway on the nearby island of Therasia, built out of an old pumice mine
• A separate villa with its own pool was completed in 2020 on a former family vineyard next to the hotel
• Rooms do not have televisions, in keeping with the hotel's quiet style

3. The Tank at Golden Nugget

Origins and History

The Golden Nugget is one of the oldest casinos in Las Vegas, first built in 1946. When Landry's took over the property in the mid-2000s, it launched a major renovation aimed at drawing more visitors back to downtown, and the centrepiece was a new pool built around a large shark aquarium.

The Tank opened in November 2006. Its clear-tube waterslide, built by the Canadian manufacturer ProSlide, starts on the upper level and carries riders straight through the aquarium before dropping them into the main pool.

Key Features

• A three-level pool complex with grottos, swim-up bars, whirlpools and pools of different depths
• An aquarium of around 200,000 gallons holding sharks, rays and other fish
• A waterslide of about 300 feet (around 90 metres) with a clear section inside the tank
• Viewing windows at pool level, so swimmers can watch the sharks without getting in the slide

Significance

The Tank turned a downtown hotel pool into an attraction in its own right. It showed that a pool could compete with the big theme resorts on the Las Vegas Strip by offering a thrill nobody else had. There is no opening between the aquarium and the pool, so swimmers can get close to the animals in complete safety.

In Popular Culture

The pool and its shark aquarium were featured in a 2010 episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and the pool also appears in the reality series Vanderpump Rules.

Interesting Facts

• Species in the tank have included sand tiger, nurse, blacktip reef and zebra sharks
• Staff feed the sharks well so they leave the other fish alone
• The adults-only Hideout pool sits on the upper level, next to the slide entrance

4. Six Senses Yao Noi

Origins and History

The resort was built on a forested hillside on Koh Yao Noi, a quiet island between Phuket and Krabi. It opened in 2007 as the first of a new line of hideaway resorts from the group behind Six Senses, and it was later rebranded under the Six Senses name, which it carries today.

From the start the idea was privacy. Instead of one large shared pool, every villa was given its own pool, many of them with an infinity edge facing the sea.

Key Features

• Private infinity pools for all 56 villas, a rare feature for a resort of this size
• Views over Phang Nga Bay, famous for its tall limestone islands
• Villas built with local timber and linked by wooden walkways through the trees
• A hilltop restaurant at the highest point of the resort

Significance

Phang Nga Bay is one of the most recognisable seascapes in Thailand, and Six Senses Yao Noi gives guests a front-row seat to it from their own pool. The resort shows how a private pool villa can feel more special than a grand shared pool, an idea that has since spread across luxury resorts in Asia.

Interesting Facts

• The largest villas include a private waterslide into the pool
• The island is far less developed than nearby Phuket, with no airport of its own
• Some villas sit high on the hillside for wide views, while others give direct beach access

5. The Joule Rooftop Pool

Origins and History

The Joule is a luxury hotel set inside one of downtown Dallas's two Gothic-style high-rises. The building opened in 1927 as the Dallas National Bank Building and was later converted into a 160-room hotel by Headington Hotels.

During the conversion, the designers added a pool on the 10th floor that pushes out beyond the face of the building. Its glass front wall lets swimmers look straight down onto Main Street, and passers-by can look up at the swimmers.

Key Features

• A pool that cantilevers about eight feet over the street below
• A clear glass wall at the end, so it feels like swimming off the edge of the building
• A historic 1920s Gothic building as its base
• A rooftop deck with views across downtown Dallas

Significance

Most dramatic pools rely on a view of the sea or the jungle. The Joule's pool is different because the drama comes from the structure itself. It shows how a historic building can be reused in a bold, modern way without losing its character.

Interesting Facts

• The hotel interior was designed by Adam Tihany
• The building is one of only two Gothic high-rises in Dallas, with the Kirby Building
• The hotel has a basement cocktail bar themed on famous film interiors

6. Gellert Baths

Origins and History

People have bathed in the hot springs at the foot of Gellert Hill for centuries. Records of healing waters here go back to the 13th century, a hospital stood on the site in the Middle Ages, and the Ottomans built baths here in the 16th and 17th centuries.

The present bath complex was built between 1912 and 1918 alongside the Gellert Hotel. It was expanded in 1927 with an outdoor wave pool and in 1934 with a thermal bath under a glass dome. Bombing near the end of the Second World War damaged the women's baths, and a major renovation in 2008 restored much of the original decoration.

Key Features

• A main indoor swimming hall with a gallery and a glass roof
• Thermal pools decorated with mosaic tiles and ornate ceramic work
• An outdoor pool of about 500 square metres that once made artificial waves every 30 minutes
• Thermal water rich in minerals, used for treating joint and back problems

Significance

Budapest is famous for its thermal baths, and the Gellert is one of its most beautiful. Its Art Nouveau halls show the confidence of the city in the early 20th century, and the baths have long been used both for leisure and for medical treatment. The current refurbishment means visitors will need to wait until it reopens to see the halls again.

In Popular Culture

The baths have been used as a filming location for several productions, including the 2002 film I Spy with Eddie Murphy and Owen Wilson.

Interesting Facts

• The baths stayed open during the Second World War
• Men and women once bathed in separate sections, and the pools became mixed in 2013
• The Turkish-era name meant the muddy bath, because mineral mud settled in the pools

7. Hanging Gardens of Bali

Origins and History

Hanging Gardens of Bali was built on a steep hillside dropping into the Ayung River gorge, a difficult site that required careful terracing. The resort opened in 2005, built largely by local craftspeople using traditional materials and techniques.

Its main pool was designed in two levels, inspired by Bali's rice terraces, so that it seems to step down the slope and spill into the rainforest. That image soon became one of the most recognisable hotel photographs in Asia.

Key Features

• A twin-tier infinity pool that appears to float above the jungle canopy
• A private heated infinity pool for every villa
• Views across the Ayung River valley and an old temple below
• A funicular that carries guests between reception and the villas

Significance

The pool helped make jungle resorts one of the defining images of Bali tourism. Instead of a beach view, it offers the feeling of swimming among treetops, and many later resorts around Ubud have followed the same idea. The resort says the pool has won many international awards since it opened.

Interesting Facts

• The resort's villas are scattered down the hillside rather than in one main building
• Its main pool is heated, which is unusual for a tropical jungle resort
• The resort went through a three-year redesign in recent years

8. Four Seasons Safari Lodge Serengeti

Origins and History

The lodge first opened in 2009 inside Serengeti National Park, one of the most famous wildlife reserves in Africa. After a rebrand and an extensive upgrade, it reopened on 3 December 2012 as Four Seasons Safari Lodge Serengeti, the first Four Seasons property in sub-Saharan Africa.

The lodge stands on raised platforms linked by wooden walkways, which keep guests safely above the wildlife moving around the site.

Key Features

• An infinity pool that looks out over a watering hole used by elephants and other animals
• Raised walkways connecting the main house, rooms and spa
• Wide views across the Serengeti plains
• Some suites and villas have their own infinity-edge plunge pools

Significance

Most safari experiences happen from a vehicle. This pool lets guests watch elephants and other wildlife while relaxing in the water, which makes it one of the most unusual pool views anywhere. It also shows how lodges in protected areas can offer comfort while keeping a respectful distance from the animals.

Interesting Facts

• The property has two active watering holes for wildlife viewing
• Serengeti National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site known for the great wildebeest migration
• Elephants regularly stop to drink within sight of the pool deck

9. San Alfonso del Mar

Origins and History

San Alfonso del Mar is a private holiday resort on the Pacific coast, about 100 kilometres west of Santiago. In 1986 the Chilean biochemist and developer Fernando Fischmann bought 60 hectares of land at Algarrobo, with the plan of building a resort around a huge artificial lagoon.

The challenge was keeping such a large body of water clean and clear at a reasonable cost. Fischmann developed a new treatment process, and when the lagoon was completed in 2006 it entered Guinness World Records as the largest swimming pool in the world by area. His technology later became the basis of the company Crystal Lagoons.

Key Features

• A lagoon around a kilometre long, right beside the Pacific beach
• Seawater pumped from the ocean, then filtered and treated
• Clear turquoise water calm enough for small boats and kayaks
• Holiday apartments, including a pyramid-shaped building, lining the shore

Significance

The Pacific Ocean off central Chile is cold and often rough, so a calm, clear lagoon gives residents a safe place to swim and sail right next to the sea. The project proved that very large artificial lagoons could work, and the same technology has since been used for lagoons in other countries.

Interesting Facts

• The deepest point of the lagoon is about 3.5 metres (11.5 feet)
• Access is limited to the resort's residents and guests
• Fischmann received a medal for inventors from the World Intellectual Property Organization in 2021

10. Tropical Islands Resort

Origins and History

The giant hall that houses Tropical Islands was built for a completely different purpose. The company CargoLifter built it to construct large cargo airships, and it was finished in 2000, but the airship it was meant for was never built and the company went bankrupt in 2002.

In 2003 the Malaysian company Tanjong bought the hangar and turned it into an indoor tropical resort. Tropical Islands opened on 19 December 2004, and it is often described as the largest indoor water park in the world.

Key Features

• The Tropical Sea, a lagoon-style pool about 140 metres long with a 200-metre sandy beach
• A rainforest with tens of thousands of plants
• Air kept at about 26 degrees Celsius all year round
• An outdoor area of more than 35,000 square metres with two large pools

Significance

Tropical Islands shows how an empty industrial giant can be given a new life. The hall is one of the largest free-standing buildings in the world, and inside it visitors can swim in warm water and lie on a beach even in the middle of a German winter.

Interesting Facts

• A special film that lets in ultraviolet light was fitted to part of the dome in 2005 so the plants could grow properly
• The resort can welcome several thousand visitors a day and is open every day of the year
• Overnight rooms and a campsite were added after opening to attract visitors from further away

Comparison: Types of Amazing Pools

Tips for Visiting Amazing Pools

• Check access rules first, because many famous pools are for hotel guests or residents only
• Book early for peak seasons, since the most photographed hotels often sell out months ahead
• Visit infinity pools early in the morning or at sunset for the best light and fewer people
• Follow safety rules on rooftop and cliff pools, and respect any limits on photography
• Check opening status before travelling, as some historic baths close for long renovations

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the most amazing swimming pool in the world?

There is no official answer, but the Marina Bay Sands SkyPark Infinity Pool in Singapore is one of the most famous. Its infinity edge of about 146 metres sits around 191 metres above the ground, giving swimmers a view across the city skyline and Marina Bay.

What is the largest swimming pool in the world?

San Alfonso del Mar in Chile was listed by Guinness World Records as the largest pool by area when it was completed in 2006. It is about 1,013 metres long, covers around 8 hectares and holds roughly 250 million litres of seawater pumped from the Pacific Ocean.

Can anyone swim in the Marina Bay Sands infinity pool?

No. The SkyPark infinity pool is open only to hotel guests for security reasons. Visitors who are not staying at the hotel can still buy a ticket for the SkyPark observation deck, which offers wide views over Singapore but does not include access to the pool.

Is it safe to swim near sharks at the Golden Nugget?

Yes. The sharks live in a separate aquarium with no opening into the pool. Swimmers watch them through windows or slide through a clear tube that passes inside the tank, so there is never any direct contact between people and the animals.

Are the Gellert Baths in Budapest open?

The Gellert Baths closed in October 2025 for a major refurbishment, with a planned reopening in 2028. Budapest has several other famous thermal baths that visitors can enjoy in the meantime, so it is worth checking current information before planning a trip.

What is an infinity pool?

An infinity pool, also called a vanishing edge pool, is built so that water flows over one or more edges into a hidden catch basin. From the right angle the edge disappears, and the water seems to merge with the sky, sea or landscape beyond it.

Conclusion

The most amazing swimming pools in the world show how much a simple pool can become. In Singapore and Dallas, engineers pushed water to the edge of buildings. In Santorini, Bali and Thailand, infinity pools blend into the sea and the rainforest. In the Serengeti and Las Vegas, swimmers share the view with elephants and sharks, while Budapest, Chile and Germany offer history, record-breaking size and a tropical beach under a roof.

For more lists like this one, explore our Top 10 Facts collection on Finepedia, or browse more articles on architecture from around the world.